Sliač ( hu, Szliács) is a small spa town located in central Slovakia, on the Hron river, between

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mo ...

and Zvolen. The town is known for its healing

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

and for an airport which has been used for military as well as civil purposes. Sliač has a population of less than 5,000.

History

The town arose through a merger of two villages, ''Hájniky'' and ''Rybáre'', in 1959 and was given the name "Sliač". However, both original settlements are much older. The

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

church in Hájniky was mentioned for the first time in 1263 (when the territory belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary) and there is archaeological evidence of Slavic settlers living in the area since the 6th century. Some evidence also indicates that the history of the settlement stretches to 2000 B.C. Sliač Airport, formerly known as ''Letisko Tri Duby'' ("The Three-Oaks Airport") due to the name of the area it was located in, played the key strategic role during the Slovak National Uprising.

Demographics

In 2018, Sliač had a population of 4,986. According to the 2001 census, 96.1% of inhabitants were

Slovaks The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak. In Slovakia, 4.4 mi ...

and 2.3% Czechs. The religious make-up was 46.1%

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, 26.7% people with no religious affiliation, and 22.1% Lutherans.

Twin towns — sister cities

Sliač is twinned with: *

Přibyslav Přibyslav (german: Primislau) is a town in Havlíčkův Brod District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,000 people. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Rep ...

, Czech Republic

References

External links

Official website of the municipality

Sliač dnes: Website about events in Sliac

Health Spa SliačHistory, present and comparison of spa Sliač
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sliac Cities and towns in Slovakia Spa towns in Slovakia